Bangladesh, OIC pledge to fight terror, extremism

:: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and Bangladesh pledged to fight terrorism and extremism during a meeting of key officials from both sides held in Jeddah on Tuesday.

At the meeting, which was held at the OIC headquarters in Jeddah, Grand Imam of Sholakia Eidgah Allama Farid Uddin Masoud and Secretary-General of the OIC Yousef Al-Othaimeen agreed to refute the false claims of extremists in the name of Islam.

Farid Uddin Masoud handed the secretary-general a 30-volume anti-militancy fatwa in light of authentic texts of Islam and signed by 110,000 religious scholars from Bangladesh.

The anti-terrorism and extremism initiative from the religious scholars has been praised all over the world.

He explained the procedure through which his institution, a non-political one, gathered such a large number of religious scholars to stand against violence and speak in unison for peace.

Al-Othaimeen commended the grand imam and reiterated the OIC’s principled position against terrorism and extremism.

During the recently concluded Islamic Council of Foreign Ministers held in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, it was decided to hold its 45th meeting in Dhaka next year. The Bangladesh ambassador and the country’s permanent representative to the OIC, Golam Moshi, told Arab News said his country considers it a great honor to have the opportunity to host the next conference.

Such an event in Bangladesh will further strengthen the relations between his country and the OIC.